"Cakes, Cookies and Pastries" by Myra Waldo - Italian Rum Torte - Zuppa Inglese - Christmas

Date I made this recipe:  December 28, 2015 – "Christmas Dinner" Dessert        

Cakes, Cookies and Pastries – 187 great dessert recipes from around the world by Myra Waldo

Published by: Galahad Books

© 1962; Third Printing 1970

Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC

Recipe:  Italian Rum Torte (Zuppa Inglese) – p. 56-57

When my husband tasted this recipe, his first words were "How much booze is in this thing, anyway?"

Answer:  a lot!  But it's Christmas and so it's time to cut loose and what better way with this boozy dessert? 

As you can see by the date, I didn't make this until Christmas was well and truly over but if you read my other holiday blog posts, you saw that I was just a tad exhausted and so didn't make anything on Christmas Day as I planned.  This was supposed to be the final ta-da to my holiday frittata and holiday pork stew (both recipes from Martha Stewart) but I just didn't get there.  Still, Christmas lasts well past its sell-by date of December 25^th and so I had time.

I've written about cookbook author, Myra Waldo before and have five of her cookbooks (out of a dozen or so) in my collection.  She started writing cookbooks in the 1950's as well as a few travel guides.  The artwork for her The Art of South American Cookery is still one of my favorites and I quite enjoyed the recipe I made for the blog as well.

This book is pretty compact – 119 pages – but it provides a nice variety of delicious pastries for you to enjoy.  I was sorely tempted to make the "Frozen Eggnog Pie" on page 87 but at the very last minute, switched it out for the rum torte.  On the booze meter, the eggnog pie only contained 2 tablespoons cognac or light rum whereas the rum torte lived up to its name with a whopping ¾ cup being used for the dish, and another ¼ reserved for the whipped cream topping.  My husband said that when he took the cover off the torte, he was almost knocked out by the fumes.  Slight exaggeration but you get the point. 

As the book title suggests, this book is filled with recipes for cakes and cookies as well as pastry consisting of tortes, macaroons, pies, tarts, other pastries, and frostings, creams, glazes and fillings.  I tell you what, as between enjoying frosting and enjoying cake, I am a frosting gal and so I might just make up a batch of the Seven-Minute Frosting (and variations) found on page 114 just for the heck of it.  I love me some seven-minute frosting!

Assuming you do not make your own ladyfingers (and I could have but chose not to), then your only task in this very easy recipe is to keep an eye on your custard and allow enough time for it to cook, gently, to creamy and silky perfection.  And then get out your booze, pour some for the recipe and a lot more for yourself and congratulate yourself on making a recipe that is sure to impress if not inebriate you and your guests for the holidays. 

Italian Rum Torte (Zuppa Inglese) – makes one 11-inch deep pie

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

36 lady fingers

1 cup rum

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Sift the cornstarch, salt and sugar into a saucepan.  Gradually beat in milk, then the egg yolks.  Cook over low heat, mixing steadily, until thickened and smooth, but don't boil the mixture.  Remove from the heat and beat in the vanilla.  Strain if there are any lumps.  Cool.

Line the bottom of an 11-inch deep pie plate closely with some lady fingers; pour ¼ cup rum over it.  (Ann's Note:  If you don't have the right sized pie plate, try a similarly sized casserole or baking pan.)  Covered with half the cooled custard.

Make another layer of lady fingers (reserving some for the top), sprinkle with ¼ cup rum, spread remaining custard over it and cover with remaining lady fingers.  Sprinkle with ¼ cup rum. 

Cover and chill for 3-4 hours.  Just before serving, pour the remaining rum over the top, and cover with the cream whipped with the confectioners' sugar.

"The Art of South American Cookery" by Myra Waldo - South American Beef-Vegetable Stew

Date I made this recipe: March 10, 2007

The Art of South American Cookery by Myra Waldo
Published by: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Illustrated by John Alcorn
© 1961

Recipe: Beef-Vegetable Stew (“Locro”) – p. 97

President Bush is visiting Latin America (also known as South America). This fact is neither here nor there; I mention it only because it reminded me of a recent acquisition to my cookbook library.

I scored The Art of South American Cookery at Bonnie Slotnicks Cookbooks, my home away from home in Manhattan and the source of many a unique book for my collection.

This book caught my eye for several reasons. First, there's the cover art. Like so many books published in the 1940's and 50's, both the cover and chapter artwork were done by an illustrator, as opposed to photography which is so prevelant today. The illustrator, John Alcorn, was, according to his bio, primarily a children’s book illustrator yet a peek at his portfolio on the web shows a few cookbooks here and there. At any rate, I thought it was a pretty cover so I put it in my “to buy” pile. (By the way, my buying process is always the same at Bonnie’s: I start to my right, wind my way around the whole shop and end up with a stack of books for further consideration. After that, I get out my calculator and then (almost always) subtract books and their purchase price until I hit both my budgetary goal (a term I use loosely) and my goal for unique books that are hard to find elsewhere. Consultation with Bonnie is usually advised although she knows me well enough to know my weak points and that’s not always a good thing!)

The book also caught my eye because it was written by Myra Waldo. Myra Waldo cranked out a lot of cookbooks in her day including the apparently popular Cooking for the Freezer. If the Food Network had been around while she was writing, she would likely have been as popular as Ina Garten, Giada DeLaurentiis and Paula Deen, all of whom have written several cookbooks. Since I liked the artwork and I liked Myra the book stayed in the buying pile.

The recipe I ended up selecting, Beef-Vegetable Stew (known as “Locro” in Spanish) doesn’t exactly sound South American but when I Googled it, I found it actually dated back to colonial times and is popular in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. The write-up also said that the stew tends to contain “lesser” meats such as organ meats, pig’s ears, intestines and the like. Well people, why use “lesser” meats when you can use quality meats? I mean sure, I could have stuck to tradition, but my checkbook and my stomach pretty much demanded I go for the gusto and eschew the use of a lesser meat in favor of very nice beef stew meat. I think you’ll agree after you make the recipe that this is indeed the way to go!

Although this recipe says the stew should be thick, I was very thankful that it wasn’t. "Thick" to me means "heavy" and given yet another wild “winter day” when the temperature hovered around 50 degrees, heavy wasn’t what I wanted. (If you blink around here, you miss: one week, we’re getting 12 inches of snow, the next week, it’s all melting and the temperatures are approaching a Minnesotan’s version of “bathing suit weather.” Go figure.)

So, despite the unseasonably warm weather, I made this surprisingly light stew and imagined life in sunny South America, far away from the midwestern snow belt...and people, it was blissful. This recipe almost made me want to pack a bag to go after the real deal, the original locro, but alas, 'twas not to be. Maybe next year when instead of rising temperatures and melting snow banks, we're experiencing blowing and drifting snow. That would make the trip all the more worthwhile, don't you think?!

Beef-Vegetable Stew (“Locro”) – serves 4-6
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds beef, cut in 1-inch cubes
¾ cup chopped onions
¾ cup chopped green peppers
3 cups water
1 ½ cups cubed yellow squash
1 ½ cups cubed white potatoes
1 ½ cup cubed sweet potatoes
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup sliced onion
2 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced parsley (optional)

Heat the oil in a casserole or Dutch oven; brown the meat in it. Mix in the onions and green peppers until browned. Add the water, squash, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 ½ hours. The stew should be very thick; add a very little boiling water if necessary. Taste for seasonings and sprinkle with the parsley. Garnish with fried onions and green peppers if desired. Serves 4-6.